


Kaddish

by scullywolf



Series: TXF: Scenes in Between [88]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Banter, F/M, Gen, MSR, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-06
Updated: 2015-11-06
Packaged: 2018-04-30 06:29:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5153720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scullywolf/pseuds/scullywolf





	Kaddish

_“What’s this, a little bedtime reading?”_

Stunned, she watched the book burn for several long moments before Mulder pulled off his coat and threw it down to smother the flames. She wasn’t sure whether she was more annoyed or impressed by the lengths it appeared someone was willing to go for this hoax. That sort of spontaneous conflagration would have been tricky to set up, and the effect was, she had to admit, dramatic.

Mulder gingerly pulled up a corner of his coat and peeked under the folds, then removed the scorched book and regarded it warily. 

“You don’t suppose Isaac wants to keep this, do you Scully?”

“I’m pretty sure he is well past caring one way or the other, Mulder. And even if he weren’t, it’s evidence.”

“Evidence of what, exactly?”

“Well somebody put it there, likely as a means to perpetuate the illusion that something otherwordly is at work, here. I’m willing to bet that whoever killed Clinton Maguire planted that knowing we would be coming to investigate.”

“Pretty neat trick, then,” he said wryly. “My high school chemistry’s a little rusty, but I’d be really interested to find out how someone could pull something like that off.”

“I don’t know, a... a remote detonator of some sort? A pressure sensor that was activated when you pulled the book out from under Isaac Luria’s head? I’m sure there are any number of mechanisms someone could use to create such an effect.”

He looked at her with raised eyebrows. “You _were_ paying attention in the explosives lectures at the Academy.”

“I was paying attention in all of my classes, Mulder,” she said, unable to fully suppress a grin.

He stood, offering a hand to pull her up. Standing, she realized her eyes were barely level with the top edge of the grave, and she groaned inwardly in anticipation of a tremendously ungainly exit. Behind her, Mulder’s low chuckle indicated that he had recognized her predicament.

“Here.” He held the book out to her. “Take this and I’ll give you a boost.”

Weighing the relative merits of getting out on her own and keeping herself from getting even more covered in dirt and mud, she sighed and took the book from him. She pulled an evidence bag from her pocket, dropped the book inside, and set it on the ground above her. Mulder dropped to a crouch and interlaced his fingers to make a stirrup, lifting her easily when she put her foot in his hands. She picked up the evidence bag and turned to see him vault out of the hole, a trivial matter given his six-foot frame.

He brushed his hands together to dust them off. “We can tell them to go ahead and rebury him, right? You saw what you needed to see as far as the body is concerned?”

She shook her head. “No, unfortunately, I think we should proceed with the exhumation. In light of the fact that the hands were still attached, I think we probably ought to confirm that the man in that casket actually is Isaac Luria. But that’s something the coroner’s office can take care of. I don’t need to perform an autopsy tonight.”

He nodded, and together they walked over to where the cemetery workers and local law enforcement officers were clustered.


End file.
